Question

How can I make the fall holidays special if no one celebrates them where we live?

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We've lived in Europe for the past three years, and every year I struggle to find good ways for our family to celebrate Halloween and Thanksgiving. They're not celebrated here, so there's no holiday from school or work, no trick-or-treating or dressing up for Halloween, and no big turkeys for Thanksgiving! Does anyone have suggestions for making the fall holidays special for my toddler and older kids?

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I live abroad too--no hallowe'en,Thanksgiving and many other celebrations!!But you can still celebrate dressing up,have a dress up party with treats...carnaval's are celebrated everywhere-think Venice,Rio...etc.Also Hallowe'en isn't american-it came mainly from Mexican traditions among others.trick or treating is North American.
Thanksgiving is being thankful for the harvest--so though it may not be an official holiday a fall celebration of food is something everyone loves!I have a great feast with Turkey or chicken every year and my friends love to visit and enjoy the 'unusual'food!
Little kids can collect fall leaves,carve pumpkins or squash...eat apple pie..make your own traditions of the seasonal fruits and vegetables. I miss trick or treating but enjoying parties and food with friends and your family will help you feel traditions of back home!

Dear Down Under Mum,
I am an American married to an Australian. I am saddened by your lack of Cultural Sensitivity. Thankfully, I have found my Aussie friends and family to be a little more culturally sensitive. I have embraced Australia with open arms, I have brought 3 Aussie children into the world. I would also like to share my culture with them. I have celebrated Thanksgiving with my friends in Australia and I think that they have enjoyed it. (In fact one of My Australian Friends Hosted a Giant Thanksgiving for us.) I would love to celebrate Trick or Treating here as well, and probably will next year. I don't think that by inviting our friends to participate in our Holidays we are shoving our culture down your throat. I would suggest that if you are not interested than just don't participate. Thank You

I am an American living in the UK, and we take it as an opportunity to celebrate both US and UK holidays! Invite some of your friends over to share Thanksgiving with you, they will love it. Although you will probably have to eat later. We are having several neighbors over for an 8pm feast, and they are very excited to be celebrating their first Thanksgiving. Last year we went to two friends houses to celebrate "Boxing Day," a great UK tradition. By mixing with your host country, you are not only learning a new culture, you are teaching people about yours.
For Halloween, I called everyone on our road who had children 12 and younger and asked if they wanted to participate, I had 16 houses say yes, for 25 kids total (trick or treating is not as popular in the UK, although not unheard of, mostly associated with "tricks"). For some it was their first time trick or treating, everyone had a blast and thanked me for organizing it.

If you have older children as well, why not throw a Halloween party for their school mates and educate them on American Halloween. Perhaps type up a letter explaining the basics and put it in with the invitations so that their parents know that it is a costume party and what to expect (sugar crazy kids, lol). It's a great opportunity for your kids to share their heritage with their friends. If you wanted to go way out there (or if you're good friends with multiple moms in the area) you could organize the party goers and trick-or-treat at the other parent's houses (ask them a head of time of course). It's certainly more effort than just trick-or-treating at home, but it could be a lot more fun. Just think of witnessing the first Halloween of 15 kids at once!

Hi, I am an Indian living in the US. Our family celebrates all our Indian festivals and holidays as well as American holidays, though maybe not exactly as people do here. For example, I don't believe in dressing up my 4 year old in scary costumes. However, I dress him up in his favourite character (this year, it was superman)and we go to costume parties. Similarly for Thanksgiving, though we don't cook turkey, we visit with family and friends and celebrate just like everybody else with a good chicken dinner.
It's all about understanding and respecting different cultures. When I was a kid, I lived in a muslim country and my mom celebrated all the muslim holidays, though we are actually christians. And I am doing the same with our family now.

The best Thanksgiving I ever had was when I lived in Europe. My Austrian friends loved celebrating with me (who doesn't like a big dinner with friends?) and were VERY excited about trying cranberry sauce and Pumpkin Pie. Everyone brought something to share, and we had a wonderful time.

Just because others around you don't celebrate the American holidays doesn't mean you can't celebrate as a family. My dad was in the Air Force and stationed in Germany for much of my childhood; we had turkey on Thanksgiving, lit fireworks for July 4th -- and paraded with lanterns on St. Martin's Day, left our boots out on December 5th for St. Nikolaus to fill. :-) You have a great opportunity to learn and share the customs of your host culture with your children. Have fun!!

I've been reading about how hallowe'en is an American holiday, and how Sabrina lives in Europe and that its not celebrated here. Its actually an Irish holiday, originally, dating back to pagan times, and there is nothing evil about it. The point was that, as it was All Hallows Eve, all the spirts of the dead would come out, so you would dress up as something scary to scare them away from you. So why not tkae a trip to Dublin or another part of Ireland (not Britain) on Oct 31 and experience what a real Hallowe'en is like, especially in the suburbs where we have huge Bonfires, the bigger the better and it ain't candy the kids get, where I grew up it was fruit!!

I have been living in Germany for 10 years now and just now I have finally found a little bit of americana near by... US Army or US military bases over here have their own little America right there... We went this year to a town near the base where some of the american families live and they had their own little halloween in their little village. It was great. Not only that, they have access to the base commissary which has the real american candy too ;O)

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